Movie Mania: Melancholia

This art film by Lars von Trier is already 3 years. Last week I finally found the time to watch this end time movie.

The Plot:

Justine just got married and is the way to her reception. Throughout the movie it becomes clear that Justine suffers from depression and has a difficult time coping with it. While she struggles a planet named “Melancholia” is about to collide with the earth.

The Rating:

This is the first Lars von Trier movie I finished watching. I often heard praise for his films so I decided to give this one a shot.
But as it happened before I was annoyed from the very beginning: Lars von Trier has the tendency to start his movies with opening sequences that seem to last forever (in reality: 10 minutes). In this sequences basically nothing happens, there are just (more or less) pretty images. To me this feels like a very forced try to give the movie a touch of exaltation.
However, I tried to overlook this opening and give the story a shot. But the first scene also shattered my hope for a Lars von Trier movie I would like. It seemed like somebody filmed the scene with a mobile phone, another never-ending shot depicting basically nothing. (The annoyance starts to pile up…)
Furthermore, I just don’t get along with the characters. Women in von Trier’s movies always seem so empty. Although he tries to give them depth they don’t seem to have any personality. Especially Charlotte Gainsbourg did not convey even the slightest emotion.

For me it was another prove that no matter how hard I try to like his films, Lars von Trier is not the director for me. I didn’t enjoy this film (or any other of movies I started to watch).